The Council held an 'orientation debate on the proposed Transparency Directive. The debate focused on the obligation for listed companies to present quarterly financial information.
Under the Commission's proposal, these quarterly reports would have to be presented by share (but not bond) issuers in between the annual report and the half-yearly condensed financial report. They would comprise companies' net turnover, profit and loss before or after tax, plus if the issuer chooses to, short trend information on the company's future development.
“Any manager worth his salt should in any case have these figures at his disposal and should be able to produce them easily”, Mr Bolkestein told the Council.
If the April 2004 adoption target is not achieved, the Financial Services Action Plan could not be completed by 2005, given the forthcoming European Parliament elections, the Commission stated.
The Council also endorsed the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) report on the impact of ageing populations on public finances and confirmed the mandate to the EPC to produce new common budgetary projections by mid-2005 on the basis of the approach outlined in the EPC report.
The projections of the EPC show that on the basis of current policies, public spending on age-related public expenditures (notably pensions, health care and long-term
care) could increase by between 3 and 7 percentage points of GDP by 2050, with the effects taking hold as of 2010.
Finally, at least no official decision has jet been made about the location of the new committee for banking and insurances as a pendant to CESR.
Commission press release
ECOFIN results - Provisional version
© European Commission
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